click here Whether you agreed with him or not, he had a huge impact on farm worker rights and is considered, arguably, the second most influential civil rights activist after Martin Luther King. Maybe surprising to some today, he was against illegal immigration, and actively protested the US lax immigration enforcement. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1994 by President Clinton. More info can be found here.

go here I did painting Thirty just around the corner from where Chavez lived in San Jose. Although 44 Scharff Ave is marked as the ‘home’ of Chavez, in reality, the family later tore his house down and built a larger one on the same lot.

custom writing essays I painted right on the San Antonio Street bridge as it passes over Lower Silver Creek, once again behind a chain link fence. Upper Silver Creek, a few miles away, was the first painting of this quest “One Down, Fifty One to Go”. Here the creek meanders slightly in a man made channel. Click on the below thumbnails for larger pictures***

get link If you google Stevens Creek, you will probably first come up with BMW, Toyota, Audi, Nissan, Lexus, Ford, Acura, Honda, Subaru, and other auto makers. That’s because Stevens Creek Blvd is auto row for Silicon Valley, at least one of several auto rows. All who live in the South Bay know Stevens Creek Blvd. It starts near the western foothills, runs due east, and near it’s eastern end are the shopping mecca’s of upscale Valley Fair Mall, and trendy Santana Row, where the Silicon Valley workers come for happy hour, dining, smoozing, people watching, and whatever else young people do after work nowadays.

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The Pacific Congress Springs Resort Hotel around 1900

click here Starting in 1847, the little pioneer town nestled in the foothills of the Santa Cruz mountains of Santa Clara Valley had been called Arroyo Quito, Campbell Creek, Campbell’s Gap, go to site Tollgate, McCartysville, and Bank Mills over the years. In the middle of the Civil War, the townspeople came together to decide a permanent name. Just upstream from their town was a spring which had almost the same chemical content as Congress Springs, of Saratoga Springs, New York, so they named their small town Saratoga, and it remains today.

mla working bibliography Today, Saratoga is one of the upscale communities in Silicon Valley, with its small town feel of tony boutiques, little shops and high-end restaurants. In it’s short downtown of about 5 blocks it is, in my opinion, the highest concentration of the best rated restaurants in the San Francisco Bay area. The winding roads in the surrounding hills reveal estates with personal vineyards, horse stables, and other indications of affluence.

go here It would have been nice to paint the Congress Springs area, but it is now grown over, and access is limited. (Based on my observations from the road, with it’s chain link fence, it is probably used as a water source for Saratoga.) I painted Saratoga Creek downstream from there as it flows through Wildwood Park in the middle of town.

My easel under a foot bridge by downtown Saratoga.

Saratoga Creek

follow Below is the finished piece, an intimate scene of Saratoga Creek—

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Korakuen, 8×10, oil on board

the writer world essays answers One of the Three Great Gardens of Japan is called Korakuen (KÅraku-en). Located in Okayama, Japan, it was built in 1700 by Ikeda Tsunamasa. Korakuen means “garden of pleasure after”, which is a reference to a saying attributed to Confuciusâ€”explaining that a wise ruler must attend to his subjects’ needs first, and only then should he consider his own interests. Once a playground for the elite, in 1884 Okayama Prefecture took Korakuen over and opened it to the public.

follow site A video from 1958 of San Jose Mayor Doerr visiting Okayama gives you a little idea of the friendship and culture in years gone byâ€¦.

Although I have only been to Okayama twice, just passing through on a Shinkansen (bullet train), the city has become a little more of personal interest to me. My son has been teaching English there in four different grade and junior high schools for much of the past year. He has had a wonderful time soaking in the Japanese culture, making new friends and loving his work, which he calls getting paid to play with school kids all day.

watch I decided an artificial stream is still a stream, and what better place to paint spring blossoms than a Japanese Garden, so painted the waterfall in the Japanese Friendship Garden. It was a beautiful spring day as the rains had just cleared and there was certainly a freshness in the air!

research paper table of contents mla I painted the scene basically as is, almost entirely in shadow, however added a little more blossoms which were all around me in the garden, except right by the falls.

enterI will be at the Plein Air Convention in Monterey next week, so there won’t be any new Creeks paintings for awhile. I am on the Faculty once again this year, and will be out demoing plein air painting for attendees around the beautiful Monterey Peninsula. I’ll try to do some weblog entries about the convention while there.